Gone are the days of milk crates for bookshelves and Christmas lights tacked above the bed. In 2025, TikTok is flooded with videos of freshmen showing off extreme dorm makeovers, featuring canopy beds, custom headboards, matching rugs and designer vanity tables. The trend has become so popular that some parents are spending tens of thousands of pounds, and even hiring professional decorators, to turn their children's brick-walled dorms into luxury suites.
One such decorator is Shelly Gates, a mother of three who stumbled into the business five years ago. When moving her daughter into Mississippi State University, Gates gave the room a top-to-bottom facelift — adding wall art, custom bedding, bright coloured ottomans and throw rugs — before posting the results on Facebook. “It gained a lot of traction and people were very positive,” she says. “I love design, and I thought, ‘What a great summer job.’”
What started as a side hustle has since exploded. Gates has designed more than 30 dorms, 13 of them this year alone. Her company, Mary Margaret Designs, has built a following on Instagram and TikTok with viral clips of 18-year-olds tearing up as they see their drab rooms transformed into warm, curated spaces. Parents usually book Gates months in advance, with students sending Pinterest boards and inspiration images. Her projects typically range from $1,000 to $15,000, with every piece included in the final price. Demand is so high that Gates, who recently quit her job as a fourth-grade teacher to focus on her business full-time, now has a wait list stretching two to three years.
For many families, that investment is about more than aesthetics. Gates says mothers often reach out looking for a way to ease the transition of leaving a daughter at school. “It's really hard to leave your kids at college. And it's hard for the girls to leave home,” she explains. “I want to be that bridge to help them cross this path.”
However, the trend has raised concerns about the wealth divide at college. “The divide between the haves and have-nots is getting bigger,” one critic commented on one of Gates’s videos. “Can we normalise dorm rooms again?! Let the teens do it! Hang up some posters, get some Rubbermaid! Let them get creative,” added another. Whether critics see it as overindulgence or simply a sign of how far move-in day has come from futons and twin XL sheets, one thing is clear: luxury dorm rooms are no longer just the stuff of viral TikToks. For some families, they’re becoming the new college norm.
